


Caught

by Ermmmmmm



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff, General feels, God what have I become, M/M, Post-Gordon Shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-24 00:50:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6135742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ermmmmmm/pseuds/Ermmmmmm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know I have other stories to write. They will hopefully be receiving an update in the next few days, but my inspiration is very picky over what it wants to work on. Anyway, something nice to focus on whilst the canon is being so intense recently... Enjoy!
> 
> PS - I hardly ever write in the present tense, but I changed it up in this fic just to see how different it was...if I've accidentally missed some and it's in the past tense, I apologise now!

For someone standing outside the house, the steady piercing sound from around the back of the pub could be likened to the screech of a crow, or maybe the locking tyres of a braking car whilst turning around the corner outside. It fills the silent late spring air, sending sharp arrows through the atmosphere like a cry of war. Inside the open window, however, the sound is much easier to place, even if not looking might have been the safer option.

The sheets collapse into a haphazard heap across the bottom portion of the bed as the cries subside. A mauve blazer hangs snugly around the back of a chair, protecting it from creases but not from the sweat that clung closely to the material. The day had been exhilarating, uncertain, and jubilant in equal measure. The cheap black suit jacket that laid crumpled on the floor next to it was covered equally in sweat, but it was cold, cold with dread. Dread that settled in his stomach for hours after those words fell into the room. The cheers that echoed around his ears, the embraces and the pats on the back felt numb until well into the evening, after the second or third drink. The warm spring air, the shortness of breath, the accidentally purposeful touches. Friendly platonic embraces, looking up, long stares into dark depths. Confessions. Shock. Spluttering. Tears. Promises. Eternity. More depths. Stairs. Whims. Novelty. Familiarity. Memories, good and bad. No more bad. No more.

Robert has his eyes fixed right ahead, just six inches across the pillow. The single bed feels enormous in the closeness of such an embrace, but Aaron can only feel any presence in the tiny bubble that surrounds them. He hadn’t meant for this to happen, he thought it was containable; but telling Robert that they would only be friends had taken the pressure off. They had become closer and closer, Robert one step behind every impossible decision, Aaron supporting an unusually silent Robert through the rocky emotions of an awkward divorce. One drink often turned into four. One more drink after closing. Helping out at the scrapyard on Adam’s days off. Catch glimpses across the office, grinning shyly as they realised. Without them noticing, it was only heading towards a certain inevitability

Aaron can feel Robert’s breath on his cheek, tickling him almost but not making him flinch. He doesn’t speak, he just looks forward. And drowns. He feels seasick and serene all at once, but he focuses ahead. He is in a trance whose breaking would feel like the greatest of betrayals. He’s not smiling, just looking. Robert’s not smiling either, just looking.

Finally, it ends.

“This is so weird…” Robert whispers, not breaking the look but deafening in its quietness. “We’ve never done this before”.

Aaron doesn’t reply immediately; he just lets that truth wash over him. After months of trysts, awkward half-chances, agonisingly long silences, it has come down to yet another silence. But he doesn’t let the irony affect him savouring the moment, and eventually, he replies, “Yeah…and we can do it again tomorrow…and the…”

“Next day, and the next day, and the next day…” Robert finishes his sentence, his grin getting bigger and bigger as he goes on. “Sounds like a plan”.

Aaron looks away for the first time, taking a quick glance downwards in order to try and regain the energy that has been sapped from him by their trance. He breathes in, smelling the faintly familiar concoction of sex and male sweat, mixed in with a uniquely Robert-like smell which smells foreign yet natural. He puts his hand onto Robert’s back, pushes himself even closer and squishes his nose slightly against Robert’s in front of him

“Just…thanks…” Aaron murmurs back, wanting to say something but being lost for anything meaningful and longer than two syllables. “For everything, like”.

“Not sure you need to thank me for everything I’ve done to you”, Robert’s voice gets slightly louder and darker in equal measure.

  
“Maybe not…” Aaron whispers back, closing the distance between them for a few seconds to taste his new lover’s mouth, then reluctantly withdrawing before adding, “But since January…since…him…it’s been you…you got me mum to listen…you got me to visit Sandra, to stand up in court, to get him sent down…and you were there by my side every single day…so…thanks for…reminding me that I still had people to live for, eh?”

“You always did…regardless of me being here or not”, Robert breaks the trance. “I’m sorry for breaking down your resolve so quickly after the trial”, Robert smiles almost wistfully, as if he had done Aaron a great disservice with his love and loyalty.

“You broke it down a lot earlier than after the trial”, Aaron murmurs gruffly, a wry smile creasing his cheeks making Robert smile shyly back. “A park bench in York rings a bell…”

The pair laugh breathlessly under the covers that they’ve pulled back up round over their heads to shelter from the draughty open window. Aaron’s smile doesn’t slip as he runs his rough hands across Robert’s torso, Robert’s eyes glistening as he runs his own hands over Aaron’s torso, a million nerve endings exploding in a cloud of euphoria as Aaron is slowly getting used to this new reality.

A glass smashes somewhere. The war of hands agrees a hasty truce. Aaron’s sure he can hear a “Shit!” from somewhere close.

“What the hell was that?” Aaron sits up, scrabbling to move up so he can hear the sound better. Throwing a glance at the luminous red bars across the room (01:09), he bites his lip.

“Probably just some drunk person outside”, Robert groans playfully, head still under the covers and a hand grabbing Aaron’s to pull him back down.

“Yeah, and where do all the drunk people come from here?”

Robert doesn’t reply, just keeps tugging.

“I’m gonna go and have a look”, Aaron drags himself from Robert’s flailing hands and swivels his position to sit on the side of the bed as quietly as possible, ear strained for more sounds.

“Come on, you’ve earnt your night off”, Robert grumbles, face above the covers and hair spiked like a noughties’ school kid.

“Yeah, well we won’t have any more if we get murdered by an axe-wielding psychopath, will we?” The elastic of his boxer strap smarts slightly as he chucks them on, then reaching out for the nearest thing to protect the rest of his modesty before opening his bedroom door. The rest of the pub is quiet once more as he tiptoes down the hall and towards the staircase leading to the pub itself. No noise in the living room.

The floorboards of the stairs creak, Aaron hisses ‘fuck’ under his breath. One step at a time, still no noise. Ears pricked. He’s almost at the bottom now, and the floorboard creaks again. Aaron shuts his eyes and holds his breath. Another glass smashes. “Shit!”. Aaron opens his eyes again, his breath beginning to be caught in his throat. He spots an empty vase on the hallway table; he winds his fingers slowly around the neck, almost dropping it in his sweaty palms. Biting his lip one more time, he inhales

He steps out into the pub and flicks the lights on.

“Mum?!”

Chas, still dressed in what she wore to the court, is accompanied by an empty bottle of wine, an empty glass, and a guilty look.

“Did I wake ya up?”

Aaron’s not ready to divulge. “I thought you were a bloody burglar! What are you playing at?”

“Needed a drink to calm me down after the day we’ve had…” Chas can’t meet her son’s gaze. “Then I dropped a couple of glasses and made a bit of a noise…”

“Yeah, because you didn’t put the bloody lights on!” Aaron steps forward a bit more and hands Chas a dustpan and brush hanging on the staff side of the bar. “Come on”, Aaron joins her round the other side of the bar and Chas looks up for a second.

“What…what are you wearing?” Chas raises an eyebrow as she clocks Aaron properly for the first time. Aaron looks down, notices the silky insides of the material caress his shoulders and arms for the first time. He’s in a sea of expensive mauve covering his torso (and his upper legs, it’s far too big for him). He feels his face turn a similar shade, not meeting his mother’s eyes as she adds, “Is that…is that Robert’s?”

Aaron doesn’t look up, not knowing how to reply. He doesn’t care that his mother knows, she needed to eventually. But he didn’t expect that it would come so soon, without giving him any time to warm the situation up.

“It makes sense”, Chas speaks into the silence, slurring slightly. “People noticed your absence, and his….anyway…I…it’s fine”. Chas lifts Aaron’s chin with her hand, Aaron trying his might to fight it to no avail. “I still don’t like him, I don’t think that’s going to change…but he saved ya and I can’t thank him enough for that and I…I…”

“Thanks”, Aaron purses his lips, determined not to smile. But he can’t help that slight crease in the corner of his mouth, and Chas grins smugly as she picks up the broken wine glass. “Why did you need to drink any more anyway? You'd had enough at the party!”

Chas’s guilty face returns somewhat as the shards of glass chink in the dustpan. “Y’know…it’s been such a big day…I can’t help but wonder how differently your whole childhood might have been if I had just…” Chas’s voice has started wobbling, and she puts down the dustpan so she can rub her eyes. Aaron watches the strength drip from her eyes like saltwater, making her blink and shake her head to wash away the stinging. Aaron puts down the brush and takes her clumsily into his arms, the open sides of the blazer enveloping them both like a magic act. “You could have had such a happier childhood, you wouldn’t have h-h-h-had any of the p-p-problems that I gave ya –“

“Like you knew what he was capable of?” Aaron rumbles gruffly, placing his hand on his mother’s back. “You’re here now…and he’s gone for good…and that’s all that’s ever gonna matter now…without…” Aaron’s own eyes start getting misty but he’s determined to keep his resolve against them for his mother’s sake, “…without you and Robert…he’d still be in the back of my head…telling me I was impossible to love and getting away with everything he did to me”.

“He…he told you that?” Chas opens her eyes again and looks directly at Aaron’s. Aaron can see her swallow rapidly, as though she was about to wretch in disgust.

“Yeah…” Aaron nods in order to avoid more eye contact. “When I went to confront him about all this…”

“And you don’t still believe it, right?”

Aaron just shrugs; he knows rationally how lucky he is to have all of the support and love of the people around him: his redeemed mother, Paddy, Robert, Adam, Vic, his family. But there’s still that nagging voice that reminds him of his worthlessness, of his inconvenience, that he is a burden and will never be loved like he loves those he cares about. He swallows it down again as Chas lifts his chin once more.

“Well don’t”, Chas looks away briefly before reconnecting. “You might be tricky to like sometimes, but loving you is the easiest and most natural thing I could ever do…and I know Paddy feels the same…and I guess Robert as well…” she pauses, Aaron watches her mulling something over before she adds, “I saw Robert’s face when the judge gave her verdict…he couldn’t take his eyes off ya the whole time, he was delighted for ya…and…I mean, he has been working his arse for ya since the whole thing came out but…I had never seen him so…positively invested in anything else than himself before…I hate it…but he adores ya…” Aaron couldn’t fight back a twitch of his lips again, “…so don’t listen to that voice, love… We love ya”.

Aaron’s eyes and ears are burning, so he just says, “Thanks, I love ya too. Get some sleep, eh?”

“Yeah, you too”, Chas raises her eyebrows in suspicion and Aaron goes a bright shade of crimson once more. “And the walls aren’t soundproof in ‘ere…just thought ya should know”.

“Shove off”, Aaron turns and walks away, his blushes burning brighter and brighter. “See ya tomorrow”.

“Night, luv”, Chas’s knowingly smug voice becomes quieter as Aaron climbs the stairs, but her words about Robert at the court drown her voice out. He is loved.

“Caught the burglar”, Aaron murmurs softly as he closes his bedroom door softly. “It was –“ He furrows his brow and sighs. Robert is snoring gently on his side of the single bed, looking lost in another world as his chest rises and falls with soothing consistency. Aaron can’t help but feel slightly disappointed before remembering that this won’t be the last time. It is only the first of many. He slips off the mauve blazer, making sure to carefully place around the back of the chair (in case he incurs Robert’s morning wrath/breath) before he slips off his boxers and climbs back into bed. He turns on his side, presses himself firmly against Robert’s back and smiles.

“Ouch! Fuck, Robert!” Aaron hisses, clutching his shin. He had forgotten the ferocity of Robert’s bedtime kicking habit. He turns over in his bed, moody now that the novel sheen has already worn off. Fucking Robert.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this little sort of drabbly fluffy thing! Please kudos and comments, they're all gratefully appreciated! Thanks again! :)


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